This invention relates to a final closing device for a closure member on a vehicle body and, more particularly, to a device for moving a vehicle-mounted closure member (e.g., a sliding door, a hinged door, a trunk lid, or the like) from a nearly closed position, at which a latch bolt engages a striker, to a fully closed position, at which the closure member is sealingly engaged with the vehicle body.
Vehicle closure members, whether hingedly connected to the vehicle body or slidingly mounted thereon, typically require only small forces to move them through the major extent of their opening and closing movement relative to the vehicle body. It is generally only during the final closing movement of the closure member, at which time the closure member must compress a weather seal strip carried by the vehicle body, that a large application of force must be applied to the closure member. However, in order to overcome the large resistance encountered in the final closing movement, vehicle closure members which are manually closed are typically moved with great momentum through their closing movement in order to insure that they will fully compress the weather seal strip at the end of such movement. Such high momentum movement of the closure members presents a significant safety problem with respect to vehicle occupants, who may inadvertently have failed to remove portions of their body from the path of movement of the closure member.
Various attempts have been made to mechanize the final closing movement of closure members. Such attempts have been made with respect to closure members that are manually moved through their initial, major range of movement (to the start of their final closing movement) and with respect to closure members which are automatically moved by powered devices through their initial major range of movement to that starting point. Examples of the former (manual preliminary movement) may be seen in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,833,536, to Joachim et al and 2,896,990 to Garvey et al. Examples of the latter (powered preliminary movement) may be seen in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,081,078 to Lohr, 4,333,269 to Bascou, and 4,530,185 to Moriya et al.
The final closing systems employed in the foregoing examples are generally costly, complicated mechanisms which are difficult to install and are subject to frequent breakdowns with attendant costly repairs. Moreover, it would be difficult, at best, to retrofit such mechanisms to vehicles not originally designed to receive them.
An improved final closing device for closure members of vehicles, which device overcomes many of the problems and deficiencies associated with the foregoing final closing systems, has been shown and also described in the copending application of James G. Boyko, U.S. Ser. No. 100,940, filed Sept. 25, 1987, which application is assigned to the assignee of the present application. In said copending application a final closing device for a closure member on a vehicle is disclosed. The closure member, which may be swingably, slidably or otherwise mounted for movement between open and closed positions on a vehicle body member, includes a latch bolt movable between latched and unlatched positions and a handle or a lock member movable between open and closed positions. The final closing device includes a striker support plate mounted on the body member for rotational movement about an axis perpendicular to such plate, a striker carried by the striker support plate and projecting therefrom at a position eccentrically offset from the axis, and means carried by the body member and connected to the striker support plate for rotating the striker support plate. The striker is movable between extended and retracted positions upon rotation of the striker support plate so that when the striker is engaged by the latch bolt and the striker support plate is rotated, the closure member is moved between a partially open position, away from the body member, and a fully closed position, in sealing engagement therewith.
Typical door latch and striker assemblies, including the one shown and described in said copending application, must comply with crash worthiness standards which are established by government agencies and automobile manufacturers. The objective of these standards is to assure that the latch and striker assembly will maintain the closure member in a closed position if the closure member is impacted from the inside. In accordance with these standards, the latch and striker assembly must be capable of withstanding a nominal 2500 lb. side load and a 3000 lb. axial load, relative to the direction of the striker pin.
It is, therefore, a primary object of the present invention to provide an improved final closing device for closure members on vehicles.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a cost-effective, final closing device for closure members on vehicles which device can reliably survive typical crash worthiness testing.
A further object of the invention is to provide an improved final closing device for closure members on vehicles in which a rotatable striker that is eccentrically mounted on a body member of the vehicle is precluded from reversely rotating, in order to prevent unintended opening of the closure member when high opening forces are applied thereto.
Additional objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent as the following description proceeds.